Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of competition law in developing countries. Following the proliferation of competition law across the globe in the last few decades, developing countries now comprise a majority of the jurisdictions that have in place a competition law. At least in terms of the language of the main substantive provisions on restrictive agreements and abuse of dominance, many of these new jurisdictions have chosen to follow the U.S. and the EU models. However, the proliferation of competition law regimes has given rise to a fear of balkanization of competition law enforcement and an excessive compliance burden for businesses, especially multi-national corporations. Out of this fear grew the rallying cry for convergence. The implicit assumption behind the drive for convergence is that there exists one or a handful of models of competition law enforcement that are suitable for most countries across the globe, to which new jurisdictions are expected to converge. Some commentators and officials have challenged this, questioning whether the legal principles regulating markets in the industrialized economies of the United States and the European Union can be transplanted directly to developing countries. Apart from the need to tailor to the local economic environment, competition law must contribute to the economic growth and development agenda of developing countries.